*Disclaimer* Nothing could possibly describe the pure awesomeness of DeVotchKa last Saturday night at the Showbox concert. That being said, this will no doubt prove a vain attempt at a review and, let's face it—you should have been there.
The night didn't start out exactly how I thought it would. While I can appreciate a headliner's willingness to give up-and-coming bands the exposure they so desperately need (and which they themselves coveted, once upon a time), opening bands are usually annoyingly amateur. This was definitely NOT the case with Basia Bulat. A petite blond in emerald green barely able to reach the mic, Bulat nervously began her set with a little hymn-like number, accompanied solely by her own clapping and stomping. It was unexpected and ballsy, but by the end, her deeply sweet vocal style had silenced the crowd that filled the dark warehouse. I knew even before her bandmates joined her on the Showbox stage that, if this was any indication of how the night would play out, we were in for one hell of a good show.
Accurately describing DeVotchKa is like trying to explain the color red to a blind man, or the sound of Beethoven's 9th to the deaf. They are one-of-a-kind, combining so many different genres of music that one doesn't quite know where to begin. Blend a little polka, a touch of Roma (gypsy), with a dash of ariachi, and you've got a unique concoction of spicy goodness that tantalizes the tongue and has you jumping out of your skin. Mmmmm . . . yummy.
After a dreadfully long wait, the band finally took the stage, each member every bit as unique as their sound. Lead singer Nick Urata channeled his inner Chris Isaacs, sporting a red shirt and black leather jacket that accentuated his dark, Sicilian good looks. Tom Hagerman, despite his accordion, resembled a Classics professor, complete with suit and spectacles. And who would have guessed that drummer Shawn King also plays the trumpet? Or that bassist Jeanie Schroder plays a mean sousaphone? And . . . why was there a sombrero-wearing skeleton puppet on the stage?
Being a huge fan of their latest album, A Mad and Faithful Telling, I was surprised to hear so many of the songs performed live with the same hauntingly beautiful vocals and masterful instrumentation found in the studio recording, a feat some bands never quit master. Even "The Clockwise Witness" was performed with the same dainty pizzicato toward the end. Urata's painful pleading and furrowed brow joined a small string section that included two of the members of Basia Bulat, and together they produced music so bewitching it was hard to believe that some in the audience would be so rude as to talk over it.
An all-consuming concert full of sweet ballads, seductive dances and sorrowful whistling, at times I didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or shout "Mazel Tov!" I thought nothing more could be added until I saw one of the acrobatic Slavic Sisters drop from the sky in an aerial silk act during the first of three encores. But at the end of the night, lead singer Nick Urata says it best. When asked in an interview with NationalPost.com to describe the band's complex sound, he answered "I always thought it was a bit exotic and romantic and I can only hope it sounds that way to others."
Oh baby . . . it does.
DeVotchKa: (site) (myspace) (as heard on the Little Miss Sunshine soundtrack)
Basia Bulat: (site) (myspace)
